Monday, June 27, 2011

Among the innumerable canards posited by the sexual grievance industry is that the news media contributes to "victim blaming," thus discouraging female rape victims from "coming forward," by failing to place the blame squarely on the male rapist in news accounts of alleged rapes. The theory is that the crime of rape is reported as something that happens to women as opposed to something that men do.
This is a relatively recent canard of the SGI, and is one that is gaining currency. (Another is that there is no typical rapist -- that rape cuts across every socioeconomic demographic. That is not only insulting to our intelligence, it obscures some critically important issues: http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/2011/04/elephant-in-room-there-is-typical.html)

This is yet another made-up assertion, concocted out of victim whole cloth to reinforce the view that society fails to protect rape victims. It is palpably absurd on its face.

Let us talk about the way rape is reported to demonstrate the gross error.

Anonymity for accusers, not for the men accused

Rape and its related sex offenses are the only alleged crimes where the name of the accuser is not reported. Far from "blaming the victim," rape accusers are afforded protections that no other alleged crime victim enjoys.

We do women no favors by treating them the way we treat infants and the insane. It only underscores a terrible stereotype about female helplessness.

While rape accusers are enshrouded in anonymity, men accused of rape are publicly named and humiliated. Often, it is enough to destroy their lives. And if you need examples of this, spend a month or so reading this blog for several hours a day (that's how long it will take you).

Why is this a special problem for rape claims? I am amazed that I am even forced to explain this.

First, let's use me as an example. The chances of me being falsely accused of any other serious crime -- burglary, murder, robbery -- are infinitesimal. No one would take seriously a claim that I robbed a bank. Moreover, even if it did happen (and it couldn't), the chances of me not being able to clear my name almost immediately if I were accused of any other serious crime is essentially non-existent.

Not so with rape. Any male capable of having sex, and even boys too young, are fair game as far as rape claims go. Is it surprising that false rape claims are made multiple times more often than false claims of any other crime, as we've shown on this blog time and time again? Is that so shocking, given the ease with which false rape claims are made, and given that every post-pubescent male is fair game for a rape claim?

Moreover, once a rape charge is made, it's almost impossible to fully clear your name, even if the woman recants. People will always think "something" happened. With rape charges, very often the only phsyical evidence of the "crime" is the same evidence of the most intimate act of love, practiced somewhere in the world multiple times every second of every day since the world began. An act of love can be transformed into an alleged crime for terribly improper reasons, as we see on this blog every day of the week.

Second, rape and its related crimes are widely regarded as loathesome in a way other crimes aren't. Watch what happens to a young man convicted of rape when he goes to prison. He is often the target of repeated, brutal rapes, even if he's innocent.

Rush to judgment

Complaining that men aren't sufficiently targeted in news reports about rape would be laughable if the subject weren't so serious. Rape accusations are typically reported as if a rape occurred. The male accused is typically treated as a rapist. News reporters become little more than stenographers for police, who typically don't reveal the weak points of their cases to the news media.

Take the false claim at Hofstra: TV reporters described the supposed event with a frightening gravitas. The transcript of one particular chilling news report (set forth below in its entirety) underscores the rush to judgment that marked the entire affair. Not only did the reporter parrot what police told her, she did not make it clear that the evidence for the alleged rape was just the word of an 18-year-old woman. Nor did she bother to explain that the four young men told consistent stories, which contradicted the accuser's tale. Nor did she bother to point out the holes in Ndonye's narrative. The four young men were identified, and the accuser was not. As you read the transcript, note that virtually every sentence uttered turned out to be grossly incorrect:

BONNY GHOSH, ASSOCIATE PRESS: She was tied up in a men's bathroom stall where five men, one by one, would rape her.

BONNY GHOSH, ASSOCIATE PRESS: An 18-year-old Hofstra student recounted her traumatic ordeal to police. It all happened Sunday around 3 a.m. The student first met one of her attackers, Jesus Ortiz, at a dance held on the Hofstra campus. Police say Ortiz snatched her cell phone as a way of getting the girl to go back to a dorm with him.

CHIEF STEVEN SKRYNECKI, NASSAU CO. POLICE DEPT: We believe he lured her into a dormitory, ah, for purposes of engaging in sexual activities with her.

BONNY GHOSH, ASSOCIATE PRESS: Trying to get her phone back, the girl followed Ortiz back to a dorm close by. That's where her attackers were waiting with the rope ready to tie her down and rape her.

CHIEF STEVEN SKRYNECKI, NASSAU CO. POLICE DEPT: Ultimately pushed her into a stall within the bathroom, bound her within the stall, and then began to have sex with her.

BONNY GHOSH, ASSOCIATE PRESS: At that point, three other men showed up. Seeing them, she was relieved, at first. She pleaded for help. But then she soon realized they were there to rape her, too. Now, four of the men are charged with five counts of rape. Police are still looking for a fifth man. Only one of the men actually attended Hofstra, but regardless, students on campus are horrified by the incident.

VERONICA DESOUZA (STUDENT): Someone takes your cell phone and you want it back. I mean, she didn't know that she was going to be tied up and and raped in a bathroom.

BONNY GHOSH, ASSOCIATE PRESS: The four men arrested all pleaded not guilty and are each being held on a $500,000 bond. If convicted, all face up to 25 years in prison. In Hempstead, New York, Bonny Ghosh, the Associated Press.
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In light of what we now know, we must wonder if the reporter's name was even Bonny Ghosh, or if she got that wrong, too.

If that wasn't chilling to you -- in light of what we now know -- if the crucifixion of these innocent young men by a news reporter doesn't sicken you, you've got serious problems.

I wish Bonny Ghosh would write to this blog to explain herself. Her story was a disgrace.

Just imagine if that story had made it clear that the only evidence for the alleged rape was the word of the young accuser, and that the four arrested men told consistent stories that no rape occurred. Imagine further if Ms. Ghosh had pointed out that no one on the floor heard anything, when typically, everyday sounds presumably far less tumultuous than a vicious gang rape are heard on the floor. Imagine further if Ms. Ghosh had revealed that the alleged rope that supposedly tied the woman up was not found at the scene, but that used condoms were. And imagine if Ms. Ghosh had pointed out that even the accuser admitted that the alleged rapists asked her to come with them after the alleged rape.

In short, imagine if Ms. Ghosh, the New York Post, and everyone else had reported the facts in a complete, fair, and objective manner instead of doing the journalistic equivalent of jumping out of the bushes and yelling "boo." If the facts had been reported fairly, it is likely that most people would have been skeptical of the rape claim, to say the least. Instead, the news media chose to present a naked allegation as a scary rape, and to brand four young minority males as vicious rapists.

Yet, according to members of the sexual grievance industry, news reports don't do enough to place the blame for alleged rapes on men.